"It will be the biggest since the general strike. It won't be the miners' strike. We are going to win."

UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis warns the government of the biggest strike in 100 years (today's Guardian & also BBC report). 

All power to Dave's elbow.  Let us be absolutely clear.  Public sector pension funds are not in crisis.  They are not unaffordable.  They are not "gold plated".  The massive 50% plus proposed increase in contributions as well as increases in retirement age are an excuse to cut spending.  Nothing more and nothing less.  So nurse, teachers, carers, receptionists and town hall clerks are being forced to pay for the past theft, fraud and corruption of the financial services sector and the Banks.  Who are now returning to their bad old ways with huge increases in their bonuses and bankrolling their mates in the Tory Party.  While at the same time said public sector workers are having their pension contributions increased they are facing years of pay freezes while inflation cuts their pay by 5% per year (and gas prices going up by 20%).  If pension subs go up by 50% many people will leave the schemes and they could collapse.

Only a few years ago there was a serious dispute over pensions which brought about radical change.  Much of which the unions were not happy about but compromised in order to secure the funds future.  Now this agreement is being ripped up.  Forget the fibs and scare mongering of the Daily Hate and the Tax Evaders Alliance.  The Local Government Pension Scheme is cash rich and worth over £160 billion.  The NHS pension scheme has a cost sharing agreement.  If employer contribution goes over 14% (close to the traditional final salary norm) then the employees will bear the cost.  Even the Conservative Party dominated Public Accounts committee accept that public penisons are affordable. Finally, never forget that Hutton found that the average public sector pension for a women is only about £4000 a year.

Dave Prentis makes it clear that he still wants to negotiate and that we will not be taking industrial action for industrial actions sake - but as a means to get an acceptable agreement.  Dave quite rightly expects the full support of the Labour Party over this dispute.  I am pleased that Newham Council recently passed this motion at our Annual General Meeting.

Tomorrow UNISON begins its Service Group conferences in Manchester and its National Delegate Conference begins on Tuesday morning.  Pensions will be the top issue.

Newham Council AGM: Growing up in Newham

This speech was given by Cllr Ellie Robinson to the Newham Council AGM on May 19th.

“We grow up fast in Newham. Some children are carers by the time they are teenagers; others face the added responsibility of having to provide for their families, both here and sometimes abroad too.

Too many of our young people have felt the extraordinary pain of losing a friend, or a classmate, to violent crime. Others struggle everyday with growing up in a culture where the violence involves relatively few but where the fear it creates touches many more.

Thirty per cent of our population are under 20. We are the youngest area in the whole country. Their challenges are our challenges, but if we are in this together where are the government?

The Tories have slashed funding to our community. They cut the Building Schools for the Future Programme with which this authority has achieved so much over recent years and they’ve cut the Educational Maintenance Allowance which gave many of my sixth form friends a chance they would not otherwise have had to go to college – a precious, priceless opportunity which has now been snatched away from their younger brothers and sisters.....(read rest of speech and that of the Mayor, Cllr Hussain and Cllr Christie here)

Newham Council AGM: "...the kind of borough and place we want to live in..."

This speech was given by Cllr David Christie to the Newham Council AGM on May 19th.

"I have come to the conclusion that while this speech should extol the benefits of cycling, the starting point of any discussion on the issue should not be the pedal cycle itself but instead about the kind of borough and place we want to live in and create together. Today, I want to present a vision that through cycling, Newham can become London’s most liveable and vibrant borough.

In Newham we are awake to the importance of stimulating high quality urban design. It is about using the development opportunities we have to create well connected and attractive places for people. If you think about your favourite parts of London, I’m sure they will be places that are pleasant to walk around and are of a human scale. Those are places that work for cyclists too and so we can be pro cyclist just by creating places people want to live in.....

(read rest of speech and that of the Mayor, Cllr Hussain and Cllr Robinson here)